A third method is shown at [Fig. 277]. With hard, curly timbers, such as tobacco mahogany and satinwood, it is a laborious process to carefully chop away the timber in small pieces, and to overcome this difficulty we occasionally see the workman take a twist-bit and bore a series of holes as shown. A great portion of the timber may then be split away by inserting the chisel end-way into the grain, after which it is pared to a finish.
As dovetailing is chiefly used for drawer making, it will be of interest to give several illustrations of variations of the joint and its uses.
[Fig. 278] indicates the method of marking the position of the holes in the drawer side. When the paring out of the dovetails is completed the drawer front is turned over on to the side as shown, and the position of the recesses which will engage the pin portions are marked with the marking awl as illustrated.
| Fig. 279.—Marking by means of Saw Blade. | Fig. 280.—Gauge Lines, Scores and Saw Cuts. |
| Fig. 281.—Sawing the Drawer Side. | Fig. 282.——Position of Chisel for Cutting Channel. |
The completed drawer back is marked on the sides in an exactly similar manner.
Another method of marking through dovetails is shown at [Fig 279]. The side is held in position on the end, and the dovetail saw is inserted and drawn out of the saw kerf, thus leaving the exact mark on the drawer-back.
Other workers prefer a pounce-bag instead of a saw. A pounce-bag consists of a piece of fairly open woven muslin filled with a mixture of French chalk and finely-powdered whiting; the muslin is tied up with a piece of thin twine like the mouth of a flour sack. All that is necessary is to place the timber in position and bang the bag on the top of the saw-cuts, when sufficient powder will pass through the bag and down the saw kerf to mark the exact positions of the lines.
Sawing the Dovetails.—After marking out the pins on the drawer sides, we proceed with the next operation, that is, sawing the dovetails ready for chopping out the waste material. The drawer side is taken and firmly secured in the bench screw and sawn as at [Fig. 281]; it is most important that the saw kerf is kept inside the line which has been scratched by the marking awl. See [Fig. 280], where the dotted line represents the gauge line and the outside lines indicate the scores of the marking awl. Failure to observe this condition will result in faulty dovetailing, and it will also prove the necessity for using a finely-toothed and thin-bladed dovetail saw.
To cut out the waste wood (or core), the usual procedure is to saw away the half-dovetails as at [Fig. 275]. With care, this can be accomplished with the dovetail saw, thus avoiding unnecessary labour and the use of the paring chisel.